Today's Newsletter: A Good Time for Gadgets

These are good times to be a hardware geek. Gear is sprouting from everywhere! Amazon made a splash yesterday with three versions of the new Kindle Fire HD. Two of them have 8.9-inch displays, bringing them closer in size to the iPad's 9.7-inch screen as well as closer in cost (about $300 and $500 respectively). The original seven-inch version now costs $199. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also showed off some new versions of the Kindle e-reader that start at $70—which means that “digital divide” no longer applies (when it comes to devices anyway). The reviews of Google’s Nexus 7 tablet are also still coming in hot. Of course, all of this is just scene setting for Apple’s highly anticipated announcements slated for next week. Be sure to follow Tech&Learning’s advisors as they weigh in on these products from an educator’s perspective. As a hardware geek myself, I may just have to review a few of these, too! —Kevin Hogan, Editorial Director